Absorbent articles for personal hygiene which during use are attached to the underwear of the user by means of a fastening adhesive are known in the art. Typical examples include sanitary napkins, pantiliners and incontinence pads. Such articles are commonly used to absorb and retain bodily fluids and other exudates excreted by the human body, such as urine and menses. Typically, such exudates are perceived as malodorous and offensive. Therefore, methods and materials for controlling and reducing malodors in absorbent articles have been developed. Fragrance compositions have been widely used for this purpose in absorbent articles. Other compositions which may not properly be defined as “fragrance” compositions per se (because that they do not per se possess a pleasant odor) have also been used to reduce the perception of malodors. These are generally called “odor control compositions”. Such compositions usually contain, sometimes along with conventional perfume ingredients, ingredients which are able to chemically react with the malodorant molecules released from the body fluids (such as amine group containing compounds or thiol group containing compounds) thus neutralizing the source of the malodor, and/or ingredients which are able to mask the source of the malodor Examples of such compositions are described in WO2007/113778 A2.
Fragrance and odor control compositions are usually formed by blends of organic compounds including aldehydes, ketones, esters, ethers, alcohols, essential oils, solvents and the like. It is well known that such organic compounds, when employed in absorbent articles, during storage of the absorbent articles, tend to migrate toward the backsheet and through it into the fastening adhesive. As a result, the properties of the fastening adhesive can be altered to the point that the adhesive is not effective anymore in keeping the product in place attached to the undergarments and/or in that the fastening adhesive leaves residues on the undergarments once the product is removed after use.
This problem is known in the art, an attempt in solving it is described e.g. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,591 describing an absorbent article wherein the perfume is immobilized on a fabric strip thus preventing its migration. Still this solution is not very effective in all cases, as most perfume ingredients are not locked in and can still migrate through the absorbent article. Also this solution adds complexity to the manufacturing process as it requires the use of “inert” materials like the fabric strip which are more difficult to handle.
Therefore a need still exist for an absorbent article comprising a fragrance or odor control composition and a fastening adhesive which is easy to manufacture using standard equipment and wherein the fastening adhesive is not affected, even upon prolonged storage, by the migration of the fragrance or odor control composition,